BALTIMORE, MD — Johns Hopkins earned the number three seed in the 2011 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament and will host Hofstra in the first round on Saturday, May 14 at noon it was announced by the NCAA Selection Committee on Sunday night. Johns Hopkins (12-2) and Hofstra (13-2) both earned at-large bids to the 16-team tournament and will be meeting in the NCAAs for the fifth time. The game will be televised live from Homewood Field on ESPN2.

The winner of the Johns Hopkins-Hofstra first round game will play the winner of the Denver-Villanova game at 2:30 pm on Saturday May 21 as part of a quarterfinal doubleheader at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium. Denver, which earned the number six seed, will host Villanova in the first round on Sunday, May 15 at 5:15 pm.

Surprisingly, this is just the third time Johns Hopkins has been seeded third in the tournament. Johns Hopkins was most recently seeded third in 2007 and the Blue Jays parlayed that into the program’s ninth NCAA championship.

This will be the 24th time Johns Hopkins and Hofstra have played in a series that dates to an 18-10 Johns Hopkins win in 1974. The Blue Jays lead the all-time series 18-5, although the teams have split the last six meetings with the home team holding serve in each of those six.

Johns Hopkins boasts a 65-30 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament with nine NCAA titles to its credit. The Blue Jays’ 65 wins and 18 championship-game appearances are both national records. In addition, JHU’s current streak of 40 straight trips to the NCAA Tournament in men’s lacrosse is the longest of any team in any Division I men’s team sport. The next longest active streak of qualifying for the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament is nine (Maryland).

Johns Hopkins, which tied a school record with 12 regular season victories this year, features one of the youngest teams in the nation as the Blue Jays count eight freshmen and sophomores among their starting 10. Six of JHU’s top eight scorers are freshmen or sophomores and seven of the eight are due to return next season.

The Blue Jay offense is led on attack by seniors Chris Boland and Kyle Wharton and sophomore Zach Palmer. Boland leads the team in goals (30) and ranks second in points (43), while Wharton counts 28 goals and seven assists to his credit. Palmer leads the team in assists (23) and points (44) and is bidding to become just the third Johns Hopkins player since 2000 to register 25 goals and 25 assists in the same season.

Defensively the Blue Jays are led by sophomore goalie Pierce Bassett, who ranks among the national leaders with a 6.70 goals against average and a .586 save percentage. He is 15-6 in 21 career starts and is joined defensively by sophomores Tucker Durkin and Chris Lightner and freshman Jack Reilly, who have teamed to start all 14 games on close defense. The Blue Jays have held all 14 of their opponents to 11 goals or less and only three teams managed more than nine goals against Johns Hopkins this season.

Hofstra, which is making its 17th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, features a balanced, explosive offense and one of the stingiest defenses in the nation. The high-scoring trio of Jay Card (28g, 15a), Jamie Lincoln (29g, 10a) and Stephen Bentz (23g, 14a) paces an offense that averages 10.3 goals per game, while junior goalie Andrew Gvozden is among the top five in the nation in both goals against average (5.70) and save percentage (.621).

The Pride earned their at-large bid on the strength of a 13-2 record that saw them lose only a pair of games to Delaware by a goal. The second of those two came in last week’s CAA Semifinals by a 10-9 score. Prior to that Hofstra had reeled off eight straight wins since losing to the Blue Hens, 7-6, on March 19.

Johns Hopkins and Hofstra had four common opponents this season in Princeton, Towson, Delaware and Manhattan. Johns Hopkins was 3-1 in its four games against those teams, while Hofstra was 3-2.

Playing at home has been good for Johns Hopkins in its NCAA Tournament history. The Blue Jays are 42-4 all-time at Homewood Field in NCAA Tournament games, including a perfect 9-0 under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Tickets for the game will go on sale in the Newton White Athletic Center on the Johns Hopkins campus on Monday, May 9 at 9 am. Fans can also order tickets over the phone by calling 410/516-7490. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students at one of the participating schools (with ID), children 12 and under and senior citizens. Children two and under are free. Tickets will also go on sale on Saturday at 10:30 am at all ticket booths at Homewood Field. All tickets are general admission – there is no reserved seating at Homewood Field for the NCAA Tournament.

Terps Draw No. 8 Seed UNC In NCAA TournamentACC rivals are set to meet at 1 p.m. on Sunday May 15 at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – For the ninth-straight year the University of Maryland men’s lacrosse team will compete in the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship tournament. The Terps, which received an at-large bid, will play at No. 8-seed North Carolina in the first round at Fetzer Field, Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPN.

This marks the second time that Maryland has been unseeded since 1997 and just the fifth time overall since the tournament began in 1972. The Terps were previously unseeded in 1993 and 1994. In those first two unseeded-years Maryland lost its first round game to the No. 8-seeded team, which were Army and Duke, respectively. The Terrapins were much more successful in 1997, advancing to the NCAA championship game. Maryland defeated No. 7-seed Georgetown in the first round before knocking off No. 2 Virginia in the quarters. In the 1997 Final Four Maryland upset No. 3 Syracuse, but couldn’t topple No. 1-seed Princeton in the finals. The last time the Terps were unseeded was 2009 and that year Maryland was the lone unseeded team to win a first round game, knocking off previously unbeaten Notre Dame, 7-3. The Terps lost to eventual national champion Syracuse in the quarterfinals.

The Terrapins are 39-10 all-time against the Tar Heels, but have faced them only once in the NCAA tournament. That meeting came 25 years ago in 1986 and Carolina, the No. 5 seed, upset No. 4 seed Maryland, 12-10, in Byrd Stadium.

Maryland and North Carolina have already met twice in 2011. The Tar Heels took the first meeting, defeating the Terps, 11-6, on March 26 in College Park. Maryland evened the season series with Carolina in the semifinals of the ACC tournament, rallying from a four-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to take a 7-6 win on April 22 in Durham, N.C.

The Terps, 10-4 on the season, were awarded one of 10 at-large bids to the tournament. North Carolina, 10-5 on the year, also made it into the field as an at-large selection. The Tar Heels are making their 26th NCAA appearance, while Maryland is making its 34th appearance in the tournament.

Carolina has won four NCAA titles, while the Terps have won two. This is the first time since 1999 (Syracuse vs. Princeton) that two former national championship teams are meeting in the first round.

The winner of the North Carolina/Maryland game will meet the winner of the Syracuse/Siena first round game in the quarterfinals on Sunday, May 22, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Stevenson men’s lacrosse team will be making its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Championship as the No. 3-ranked Mustangs received a first round bye and will host the winner of Cabrini and Widener at Caves Athletics Complex in the second round on Saturday, May 14.

Stevenson (17-2) was one of three teams to receive a first round bye in the South Region along with No. 1 Salisbury and No. 5 Dickinson. The Sea Gulls will host the winner between Springfield and No. 17 Endicott while the Red Devils welcome the winner of Adrian and No. 15 Wittenberg.

A total of 26 teams were selected for this year’s national championship with No. 2 RIT, No. 4 SUNY Cortland and No. 7 and defending national championship Tufts receiving first round byes in the North Region.

Six of Stevenson’s 2011 opponents advanced to the tournament, including Salisbury, Cortland, Tufts, No. 8 Roanoke, No. 16 Denison and Scranton. The Mustangs posted a 5-2 record against the opponents, going 1-1 versus the Sea Gulls with their only other loss coming against Tufts.

Stevenson is 5-11 all-time versus former CSAC rival Cabrini and 2-0 against Widener. Two of the Mustangs’ five victories against Cabrini have come in the last two seasons in NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Championship.

More information on Saturday’s second round contest at Caves Athletics Complex, including game time and ticket information, will be made available on GoMustangSports.com as soon as it becomes available.

The quarterfinals will be on Wednesday, May 18 with the semifinals on Sunday, May 22. The Division III national championship game will be played on Sunday, May 29 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.